Crème Caramel
Gerard Crozier
Crozier’s
New Orleans LA

Tender custard hides a layer of golden caramel. You may serve the custards in the cup, with the caramel still hidden, or unmold the custards and reveal the caramel on top.

Serves 15 1/2-cup servings

Caramel
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Custard
4 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup sugar

To make the caramel: Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and swirl to dissolve. Cook over medium heat until the mixture turns the color of maple syrup. Remove and cool to room temperature.

To make the custard: Scald the milk with the vanilla. Beat the eggs and egg yolk with the sugar until the mixture is thick and lemon colored. Stir a spoonful of hot milk into the egg mixture to temper, then slowly pour the hot milk into the eggs, whisking vigorously until slightly cooled. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve.

To assemble and serve: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Divide the caramel among the custard cups, pouring a little into the bottom of each. Add the strained custard. Place the cups in a baking dish and add hot water half way up the sides of the cups. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a knife near the edge of the cup; if the knife comes out clean, the custard is done. Or, shake a cup: if the custard trembles it has not completely set. When done, remove from heat.

This dessert may be served warm or cold, unmolded or in the cups.

Green Tea Ice Cream
Yoshi Katsumura
Yoshi’s Cafe
Chicago IL

This refreshing and unusual ice cream is a wonderful finish for a heavy dinner. Chef Yoshi serves his with raspberry sauce and fresh fruit. Use the freshest fruit available locally in season.

Serves 15 – 18

1 quart milk
1/2 ounce powdered Japanese green tea
15 egg yolks
1 pound sugar
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 cup half-and-half

Raspberry Sauce
1-1/2 pints raspberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Sliced fresh fruit for garnish

To make the ice cream: Bring the milk just to a boil. Remove from heat and add the green tea. Mix well. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until the mixture thickens and forms a ribbon when drizzled back upon itself. Combine the egg mixture and the milk, then strain into a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until just before the mixture reaches a boil. Remove from heat and set the pan in a large bowl of ice. Cool completely, stirring gently with a whisk as it cools. In a bowl set over ice water, beat the heavy cream and half-and-half until frothy. Pour into the egg mixture and mix well. Put in an ice cream maker and proceed according to manufacturer’s directions. Freeze at least 2 to 3 hours in the freezer.

To make the sauce: Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the raspberries. Puree in a food processor; strain and cool in the refrigerator.

To serve: Place a scoop of green tea ice cream in a serving bowl and spoon raspberry sauce around it. Garnish with fresh fruit.

Rotkohl (Red Cabbage)
Gunter Preuss
The Versailles (later, Broussard’s)
New Orleans LA

Gunter Preuss makes his German version of red cabbage for the holidays. The quartered cabbage marinates with vinegar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and bay leaves; it cooks with apple slices, bacon fat, and red wine. The cabbage marinates overnight; start a day ahead.

Serves 6

Rotkohl (Red Cabbage)
1 head red cabbage, about 1-1/2 pounds
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 bay leaves
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup bacon fat or vegetable oil
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
Water or red wine
1 medium white potato, peeled and grated

To prepare the red cabbage: Wash the cabbage. Quarter the head and strip off the outer leaves. Cut off the core. Slicing at an angle, finely cut the quarters. In a large bowl, mix the vinegar, spices, bay leaves, sugar, salt, and pepper. Toss the cabbage with the mixture, cover the bowl with a towel, and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, cook the onion in bacon fat or vegetable oil until tender. Add the apple, marinated cabbage, and enough water or wine to barely cover the cabbage. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until tender. Stir in the potato. Cook until the juice has thickened and is syrupy, about 15 minutes, and serve.

Lemon Zabaglione with Mixed Citrus Fruit
Luciano Bossegia
Cardinale
Sao Paulo, Brazil

This dessert is filled with bright citrus taste. Orange and grapefruit segments are caramelized, then piled into dessert bowls and covered with lemon zabaglione. Citrus zest and sugar is sprinkled over the tops and browned with a small kitchen torch. You may brown them under a hot broiler if you wish, but the process happens very fast and is much more controllable with a small torch.

Makes 4

Caramelized Lemon Zest
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sugar

Lemon Cream
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup lemoncello liqueur

Zabaglione
9 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemoncello liqueur

Caramelized Citrus Fruit
1 red grapefruit
1 yellow grapefruit
1 orange
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

1 lime, sliced in thin wedges

To prepare the caramelized zest: Put the lemon zest and sugar in a small non-stick saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat and let the sugar melt. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the sugar turns a golden color. Remove and strain, reserving the zest. Set aside.

To prepare the lemon cream: In the bowl of a mixer, cream the eggs and sugar until light in color. Bring the lemon juice to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. As soon as the juice boils, reduce the heat to medium. Rapidly stir a small amount of the hot juice into the egg mixture, then slowly add egg mixture hot juice, stirring as you add. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and zest. Return the pan to the heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring gently. Remove from heat, stir in the lemoncello liqueur, and set aside; keep warm.

To make the zabaglione: Mix the eggs and sugar in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Whisking or beating constantly, cook the mixture until it thickens. Remove from heat and continue beating until it has cooled. Fold in the lemoncello and lemon cream.

To prepare the fruit: Pare the citrus fruits and cut out the segments. Peel off any remaining segment membrane. Put the segments, butter, and sugar in a non-stick saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Squeeze the juice from the rinds of the citrus into the pan. Cook, stirring gently to coat, until the syrup is reduced to a thick glaze. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the caramelized citrus fruit in dessert dishes or cups. Pour the zabaglione cream over the fruit, letting some of the fruit peep through. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To serve: Sprinkle the tops of the desserts with caramelized zest and a little sugar. Using a small kitchen torch, brown the tops before serving. Place each dish on a serving plate. Garnish the plate with fanned lime wedges.

Every day Great Chefs searches the web for news about our celebrity chefs, here’s an article we hope you’ll enjoy.

Beignets with Vanilla Sauce
Beignets Souffles Crème Anglaise
Andre Soltner
Lutece
New York NY
Most Americans know beignets as the New Orleans version of a doughnut. Made from the same cream puff dough as éclairs

Source:

Vacherin
Maurice Delechelle
Croissant d´Or
New Orleans LA

Vacherin is a milk-white cake composed of layers or meringue and whipped cream. It is named for vacherin cheese, which it resembles. There are many variations — ice cream is sometimes used as a filling, and various fruits are used to decorate the cakes. The trickiest part is slicing the cake without crushing it. As suggested, use a serrated knife, sawing gently through the meringue layers. Rinse and dry the knife between each cut.

Serves 6 to 8

8 egg whites
2-1/4 cup sugar

1 quart heavy (whipping) cream
3 ounces confectioner´s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 large fresh strawberries

Preheat the oven to 200 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly draw two 10-inch circles with a pencil.

Put the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until foamy. With the machine running, slowly add half of the sugar to the egg whites, then increase the speed to high and beat until they stand in soft peaks. With the machine still running, slowly add the remaining sugar and beat about 1 more minute, until the meringue stands in stiff peaks.

Put the meringue in a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe a spiral of meringue to fill each sketched circle on the parchment. Fill in the circles completely. Bake for 2 hours, until the meringue discs are completely dried and crisp. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Put the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until foamy. With the machine running, slowly add the sugar and vanilla to the cream, then increase the speed to high and beat until it stands in firm peaks.

Place a cooled meringue disc on a cake board (foil-covered corrugated cardboard will work). Spread whipped cream over the disc, then turn the remaining disc upside down and place on top of the cream, pressing slightly to seat it firmly. Spread the cream around the sides and top, smoothing it with a serrated spatula in a wavy pattern. Put the remaining cream into a pastry bag fitted with a fluted tip and make rosettes around the rim of the cake. Put a rosette in the center. Draw spiral or curved designs on the sides of the cake. Pipe rosettes around the base of the cake. Put a whole strawberry in the center rosette. Slice the remaining strawberries in half and place around the rim of the cake. Chill until ready to serve.

To serve: Slice into individual wedges using a serrated knife; rinse the knife with warm water and dry completely between each slice.

Bing Cherry Clafouti
Thierry Rautureau
Seattle WA

Chef Thierry Rautureau makes the most of Washington´s fresh cherries with this dessert, which he makes with fresh poached cherries. But he also gives instructions for making preserved cherries, which can be used in the clafouti. Clafouti is a traditional French dessert in which cherries are embedded in a batter and baked.

Serves 6

Poached Cherries
1 cup fresh Bing cherries, pitted
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons Kirsch liqueur

To poach the cherries: Combine all ingredients in a pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, reducing the heat when the mixture begins to boil. Poach for 4 minutes. Cool in the poaching liquid.

Or

Preserved Cherries
1 pound fresh Bing cherries, pitted
2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1 ounce Kirsch liqueur
1 vanilla bean, split

To preserve the cherries: Familiarize yourself with canning techniques before trying this, as a jar sealed too tightly when it is cooked can explode. You want the top just tight enough to allow bubbles to get out of the jar, but no cooking water to get back in. The cooking process is to destroy bacteria in the jars before they are sealed.

Put the ingredients in a heavy saucepan, scraping the vanilla seeds out of the pods into the pan. Drop in the pods. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Lift out the vanilla pods with tongs. Place the cherries in sterilized canning jars and pour the pan liquid over the cherries. Loosely cap with canning lids; do not seal at this point. Place the jars in a large pot and submerge in cold water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 15 minutes, or until all bubbles are out of the jars. When ready, lift the jars from the water with heavy tongs, tighten the caps, and stand upside-down to cool. Keeps indefinitely.

Clafouti Batter
3 eggs
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1 vanilla bean, split
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Garnish
2 or 3 sprigs of lavender or corn flowers, torn into petals
1 anise sprig, torn into fronds
1 cup creme anglaise

To make the clafouti: Put the eggs, sugar, cream, milk, and flour in a mixing bowl. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the mixture, then drop in the pods. Beat the mixture together until smooth. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve, put back in the bowl, and let stand for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Butter 6 individual souffle dishes and sprinkle with sugar; turn to coat the insides with sugar, then dump out any excess. Place the dishes on a baking sheet. Cut at least 12 poached or preserved cherries into quarters. Place the cherry pieces in the bottoms of the prepared souffle dishes. Ladle batter over the cherries. Bake for 25 minutes, or until set.

To serve: Serve warm or cooled. Loosen around the edges with the point of a knife, then unmold near the top of each serving plate. Spoon poaching liquid or preserved juice around the clafouti. Drizzle the plates with creme anglaise. Place 3 cherries on each plate. Garnish with flower petals and anise fronds.

Coffee-Butterfinger Crunch Ice Cream
Paul Milne

208 Talbot
St. Michaels, Maryland
from the Great Chefs of the East cookbook

The ingenious part of this easy-to-make ice cream is the texture and flavor added by the candy bars. Any crunchy candy may be used in place of Butterfingers, or you may adapt the concept to your favorite flavor combinations. The ice cream may be made up to 2 days in advance and kept frozen. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Makes 1-1/2 quarts; serves 6 to 8

• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
• 8 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder, mixed with 2 tablespoons hot water
• 8 ounces Butterfinger candy bars, coarsely chopped

Place the half-and-half and cream in a a heavy, medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to make sure it does not boil over.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture is fluffy and pale in color. Add one fourth of the cream mixture to the eggs, then pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Whisk the dissolved instant coffee into the mixture in the pan.

Place the pan over low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens so that a line drawn on the back of the spoon does not fill in. Be careful not to let the custard boil, or the egg yolks will curdle. Strain the mixture through a fine-meshed sieve and cool in a bowl set over ice cubes.

Freeze the mixture in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s directions. When the mixture is almost frozen, stir in the chopped candy pieces. Continue to freeze until hard.

Green Tea Ice Cream
Yoshi Katsumura
Yoshi´s Cafe
Chicago IL

This refreshing and unusual ice cream is a wonderful finish for a heavy dinner. Chef Yoshi serves his with raspberry sauce and fresh fruit. Use the freshest fruit available locally in season.

Serves 15 – 18

1 quart milk
1/2 ounce powdered Japanese green tea
15 egg yolks
1 pound sugar
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 cup half-and-half

Raspberry Sauce
1-1/2 pints raspberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Sliced fresh fruit for garnish

To make the ice cream: Bring the milk just to a boil. Remove from heat and add the green tea. Mix well. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until the mixture thickens and forms a ribbon when drizzled back upon itself. Combine the egg mixture and the milk, then strain into a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until just before the mixture reaches a boil. Remove from heat and set the pan in a large bowl of ice. Cool completely, stirring gently with a whisk as it cools. In a bowl set over ice water, beat the heavy cream and half-and-half until frothy. Pour into the egg mixture and mix well. Put in an ice cream maker and proceed according to manufacturer´s directions. Freeze at least 2 to 3 hours in the freezer.

To make the sauce: Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the raspberries. Puree in a food processor; strain and cool in the refrigerator.

To serve: Place a scoop of green tea ice cream in a serving bowl and spoon raspberry sauce around it. Garnish with fresh fruit.

Milk Chocolate Caramel Creme Brulee
Kate Chorlton
Park Avenue Cafe, New York

Crème brulee, with its glassy melted sugar top, is always popular. Shatter the tops on these and you´ll enjoy a creamy chocolate-caramel blend. Cooking in a water bath ensures that the bottom and sides cook evenly.

Makes 24 – 2‚” ramekins or
12 – 4‚” ramekins

3 cups milk
2-3/4 cups cream
1/3 cup plus 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
12 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the milk-cream, and 1/3 cup sugar to a boil. In another saucepan over medium-high heat, combine 3/4 cup of sugar and water and bring to a boil, swirling to combine. Continue cooking until the mixture turns to an amber caramel, 238 F on a candy thermometer. Very slowly pour one third of the milk mixture into the hot caramel and blend; then pour this mixture back into the milk-cream mixture. Bring back to a boil. Put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and pour the caramel over it. Let stand for a minute to soften the chocolate, then stir together to blend. Let cool to room temperature, then stir in the egg yolks.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Strain the mixture through a sieve to make it smooth. Pour into 24 2-inch ramekins, or 12 4-inch ramekins. Place in a water bath or a baking pan with enough hot water in it to go two-thirds of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the custard sets. Remove from water bath and let cool.

Mix together the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar Sprinkle the custards with the sugar mixture and glaze under a hot broiler or with a kitchen torch just before serving.